Evgeniy Albertoviç, President of Kazakhstan Grain Processors Association who is believed the task of the association is to create convenient conditions for development of industrial businesses is emphasized that they primarily unite manufacturers of wheat flour and partially pasta manufacturers. With Evgeniy Albertoviç, we talk about tasks of Kazakhstan Grain Processors Association, data of wheat production in the country and manufactures’ technological infrastructure.

Mr. Evgeniy Albertovich, first of all could you give us information on the “Kazakhstan Grain Processors and Bakers Association”? When was the association founded? What are the mission, purpose and services offered to the members Our Association was founded 16 years ago. Kazakhstan Millers Association which was founded in 2001 was renamed as “Kazakhstan Grain Processors and Bakers Association” in 2002. With a new regulation in 2012, the organization was renamed as “Kazakhstan Grain Processors Association”.

The fundamental task of the Association is to represent the members and defend their rights in executive and judicial bodies, under the legislation of Republic of Kazakhstan on “non-profit organizations.” However, we have a wider perception of our task. We believe that the task of the association is to create convenient conditions for development of industrial businesses. We contribute to create legal and regulatory frameworks that govern our activities. For this purpose, our Association has been accredited by the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ministry of Agriculture and by “Atameken” the National Chamber of Industry of Republic of Kazakhstan.

Our second task is to offer information support to the members of our Association. We send data packages to all members with daily, weekly, monthly and current news bulletins via e-mail. Infor-mation assistance helps our companies to save on the costs for operational information research, and thus they can better focus on the market without bias and make better decisions. Our third task is to help companies to implement innovative solutions.

Which industries do your members come from, and at which level do your members represent their industries. And finally, what do you represent before them? After the latest regulation in 2012, the manufacturers of bread and baked products were excluded from our membership. Currently we primarily unite manufacturers of wheat flour and partially pasta manufacturers. Unfortunately, we cannot cover certain activities (cereals, animal feed production, deep processing of grains, etc) since we are understaffed.

Currently, our manufacturers export flour to Central Asian and Afghan markets. Export of flour in proportion to manufacture was approximately 50% in 2013-2015. That is, almost half of the total flour volume produced in our country was exported. With such high figures of exports, it is clear that our Association focuses on trends in foreign markets, tariffs and shipping policies, legal and regulatory frameworks of importing countries. Concerning the results of analysis-demand for the “mirror” (response) precautions related to non-tariff restrictions applied by our importers in flour trade and concerning the offers that encourage and expand exports...

Our Association is engaged in the activities of inter-governmental commission where the problems are studies and solutions are suggested. Specifically with the effective position of our Association, Uzbekistan lowered the Special Consumption Tax on imported flour from 15 to 11%. Similar efforts are underway with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The foundation of the new trade policy of Kazakhstan is now being laid with the participation of our Association.

Could you give us information on seed production and processing in Kazakhstan? What is the cur-rent status and development of seed industry in Kazakhstan? Agriculture industry makes up for 5% of the gross domestic product of the country. In 2015, the gross production of agricultural products amounted to 3.3 trillion Tenge, which was increased by 21.6% as compared to 2011.

Even during the harshest years for harvesting, Kazakhstan was able to respond to domestic demand and sparing sufficient reserves for export. Recently, the maximum harvest was in 2011, when the total harvested grain was 26.960,5 million Tenge, and total harvested wheat was 22.732,1 million Tenge. In 2011-2015, the cultivation area for grains shrank from 16,2 million ha to 14.9 million ha. On average, 18,8 million tons of grain was pro-duced in our country in the last five years, which represents an increase by 10,1% as compared to 2006-2010. Furthermore, the average productivity of grains was 12,3 zentner/ ha (10,4% more).

How many businesses are producing seeds in your country? What are the products they primarily focus on? 362 licensed manufacturers are involved in manufacture and sales of seeds for agricultural products in the country, and most of them (74%) produce seeds for grains. 66 companies are licensed for oil products, 55 for feed products, 9 for corn seed, and 2 for sugar beet.

The total cultivation area of agricultural products in the last 5 years is 21 million ha, and it has fluctu-ated at very insignificant rates, and the main changes are indicated in its structure. The primary part of cultivation is allocated for wheat; however, cultivation of wheat fell from 13,8 million ha in 2011 to 11,7 million ha in 2015 due to the policy of diversification of cultivation in favor of feed, oil products, pulses and feed plants and to prevent monoculture.

Decreasing share of wheat lead to an expansion in the cultivation area of pulses, cereals, feed products, vegetables and fruits, feed plants and potato. During these years, the cultivation area of barley increased by 579,500 ha or 37,6%, oat by 63,200 ha (42,3%), corn by 39,400 ha (39,6%), oil products by 190.200 ha (10,5%), feed areas by 1,1 million ha (41,7%), vegetable and fruit areas by 38,600 ha (19,6%), and potato by 6,000 ha (3,3%).

What is the situation of technological infrastructure of seed manufacturers in Kazakhstan? Is there sufficient investment for advanced technologies? How can it be developed and transformed? In general, the technology of agricultural manufacturers is capable of handling all processes related to grain production. In early 2016, the agricultural technology of Kazakhstan consisted of 152,000 tractors, 42,000 combine harvesters, 3,500 cultivation complexes, 86,100 cultivation machines and 15,600 harvesters.

Agricultural machinery can either be purchased locally or imported from abroad. 93% of the total volume of manufacture of local agricultural machinery consists of tractor and harvester pars, and 7% consists of additional parts.

According to the figures in 2015, 30% of all agricultural machinery purchased were supplied by local manufacturers, and 49,5% of these machines were harvesters, 34,8% were tractors, and 20% were other technologies. The remaining part of the demand for agricultural machinery is addressed with imports.

What are your final remarks? Currently the government of Kazakhstan is creating a program on development of agricultural and industrial complex. Various important issues have been highlighted in the concept. Particularly the ideology of manufacturing agricultural products is now based on the principle of “The products that are sold should be manufactured”. This will fundamentally change the approaches to panned manufacturing in agriculture and livestock breeding. The program is focused on improving the sales system of agricultural products both domestically and in export markets. Furthermore, the subsidy scheme to support products and development areas with highly efficient main vectors is fundamentally changed. However, I believe the program of Agricultural-Industrial Complex deserves a separate discussion.